Luminous Beings: Racism in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Hey, you know that movie you love so much about space wizards that fills you full of childlike hope and wonder? That is so ridiculous but so fantastic at the same time? That is such an integral part of your development as a human being existing in our culture?

Well, buckle up kids, because we’re going to talk about the racist parts of Star Wars. HEY. Don’t you click that little red ‘x’. I know this isn’t fun but it’s important. We have to talk about this, man.

Listen, I know Star Wars is supposed to be fun and plays a large role in many people’s escapism. I get it and I would never want to take that away from you. But we have to recognize the massive influence of popular culture in our society, and I don’t have to remind you how massive the influence of Star Wars is on popular culture. You can still adore a piece of media and acknowledge its flaws. In fact, it’s a requirement to recognize your faves' flaws. So let’s all step out of our little Death Star-shaped comfort zones and address one of the most problematic elements of Star Wars.

Tusken Raiders or Sand People

I know some people might see this as a stretch, seeing as these screeching fan favorites only had one scene in the Original Trilogy, but you’ve got to admit that the wardrobe chosen for these aliens closely resemble traditional middle eastern garbs. Plus, they’re called Sand People. However, as to be expected, it only got worse in the Prequel Trilogy. The Sand People are depicted as barbarous monsters that kidnap and torture Anakin’s mom for some undisclosed reason. When Anakin proceeds to flip out and murder a whole town full of Sand People, he delivers this little gem of dialogue: “They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I hate them!" Which I can understand to a point; they did just murder your mom, plus you’re Darth Vader so we get that you’re a little bit unhinged. But then Padme responds by saying “Anakin, what’s wrong?” The characterization of a whole race of people to be animals by Lucas is just awful, but at least a villain is saying it. When the diplomatic queen and senator completely glosses over this fact, pretty much with a “Yeah, so? Why are you crying?” means she agrees with him. The stereotype parallels between Sand People and Middle Eastern people is not the most blatant show of racism in the saga, but it’s still there.

Watto

Now, Watto is one of the most blatant shows of racism. It’s one of the most anti-semitic caricatures I’ve ever seen. Not only does this greedy, money obsessed alien have the caricatured features of a hasidic jewish person (large nose, scraggly beard, a typical hasidic styled hat) but his accent is just… just the worse. It wasn’t subtle, guys. I don’t even know how to finish this entry. I’ve got nothing left. It’s obvious and painful.

The Neimoidians

This was just as obvious as Watto. Their costumes were obviously Asian inspired, their accents were painfully on the nose and their eyes even have slits in them to mimic that specific Asian feature. American media has its own trope surrounding Asian men, in that they’re always businessmen up to no good. I know it’s common to accuse all minorities of crime, but we tend to pin white collar crimes onto Asian businessmen. Where and why did that start? Why does George Lucas have to be such a dingbat about this?

Nein Nunb?

Now, I have a harder time with Nein Nunb. He suffers from a lot of the same caricatures as the Neimoidians, like his eye shape and his language being blatantly Asian-inspired. But at least he’s not conforming to any preconceived stereotypes of Asian people. He’s sort of just doing his own thing in space, fighting for the rebellion. In fact, this is the first entry that isn’t a bad guy...

...but it isn’t the last.

Jar Jar Binks

If you were looking for a reason to hate Jar Jar Binks other than the fact that he sucks, please forward your thank you notes to my secretary. America has a long and disgusting history of minstrel style humor in film. Jar Jar has been criticized for his Jamaican style accent and gross incompetence. The actor who portrays Jar Jar, Ahmed Best, is an African American man, so I wouldn’t call it black face. If you do a simple YouTube search for “minstrel shows”, you’ll render hundreds of results. Just watch a few of them and compare them to how Jar Jar behaves and his function in the narrative. This can seem a bit unfair. How can you encourage black comedians without invoking this similarity to minstrel shows? It all depends on their function in the narrative. Jar Jar’s primary function was to be so completely moronic, his buffoonery directly impacts the fate of the galaxy. Not very empowering.

  

In my opinion (which is the opinion of a white person, so definitely not the definitive opinion on the subject), the Original Trilogy was actually very progressive given the time period it was released in. Why is it that things seemed to get much more racist in the Prequel Trilogy, or was that just me? And the newest Star Wars movies are the most progressive yet. Why the fluctuation in awfulness? Well, I’m not saying it was the level of George Lucas’ involvement, but in the OT he had a whole team around him and people to answer to, in the PT he had pretty much absolute control, and in the new era of Star Wars he just isn’t involved.

I see you, Villain. 

I want to give George Lucas the benefit of the doubt and say that these characterizations are not intentional, but rather his own internalized prejudices coming to the surface through his work. He was receiving the same institutionalized racism the rest of the country was via popular culture. Where Lucas screwed up is when he created these characters, he didn’t take a minute to stop and evaluate what he made through a different perspective.

This is how white filmmakers can learn from George Lucas. Take a step out of your bubble and ask yourself why you made the decision to give your character a specific feature. Think critically about your choices and where they stem from. And for the love of God, if a whole group of people tell you that they find something you created offensive, instead of getting defensive, listen to why they feel that way. The best storytellers are the ones who know how to listen in the first place.

Did I miss any glaringly obvious examples of racism in Star Wars? What other classics or fandoms struggle with racial prejudices?

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Star Wars and the New Political Revolution

After the 2016 presidential election, I wrote my first Luminous Beings post on why Star Wars matters now more than ever. When I wrote that, Donald Trump wasn’t in office yet. It was a preamble to a story. It was an opening crawl.

This post is the first act.

At this point we’ve all heard about the similarities between our current political situation and the Star Wars story line. The emperor is in charge, nazi-inspired propaganda is all over the place, the queen is pregnant with twins. But that’s not just true of Star Wars. Comparisons are being made between where we are now and Harry Potter, Star Trek, MCU and so many other fandom favorites. Why?

Because we’ve been fighting this battle against fascism, racism, and oppression this entire time. Not only in our national history but in our fiction. It’s a topic we as Americans in particular are obsessed with. I think this is because we’ve played both the aggressor and the hero. The threat to freedom and the savior of it.

But this is a Star Wars column so let’s talk about how Star Wars has played a role since Trump took office.

Source

One of the most common terms being tossed around in protests and activism is #resist. Hell, Greenpeace unfurled a giant banner with the word printed on it just a few blocks behind the White House. 

Imagine him trying to tear it down with his tiny hands.

The collective group of rebels waging war against the empire's spawn, The First Order in Episode VII is called The Resistance. It didn’t take long at all for protesters to adopt Star Wars images and concepts and use them activism. We’re seeing the Rebel Alliance logo pop up everywhere and the whole concept of The Empire is taking on a brand new life. The Women’s March has been said to have been the largest act of protest across the world. Cities from all over the planet participated in these demonstrations and it was beautiful. Not too long ago, we lost our princess and our general but she was there too.

Just as Princess Leia became an icon of female leadership and heroism, Carrie Fisher herself was an activist. Our very own Luke Skywalker tweeted about her presence at the Women’s March.

Thanks, Space Uncle. (Source)

Rogue One, the highly anticipated prequel to A New Hope, came out mid December. Right after the election, right before inauguration. What a perfect moment in history to release a film about resistance and fighting back against a dangerous and oppressive authority. Not to mention the highly diverse cast, further equating the Rebel Alliance to the current opposition of Trump’s leadership. A group of immigrants and women take on a highly organized battalion of white men. Perfection.

Rogue One injected our popular culture with a shot of pure adrenaline right before we’d need it the most. Rogue One was our pep talk for resistance before we even knew how badly we would need it. It’s incredibly relevant in today’s atmosphere, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I AM READY.

Star Wars will no doubt continue to be a source of inspiration and comparison as we move onto the next film in the new trilogy, The Last Jedi. This December we will return to Rey, Poe, and Finn and watch them figure out how to take down this brand new faction of fascism. They are our fictitious counterparts, telling the story of our fight congruently. At the end of the day, real people are suffering and it’s important we don’t lose sight of that in light of something trivial, like a movie franchise. I’m not saying Star Wars is as important as listening to the voices as those who are marginalized. I’m not saying you have to love Star Wars to be able to participate in political activism. But if Star Wars is something you do love, let it be your battle cry. Popular Culture isn’t just here to distract you from reality, it’s here to help you find a way to engage with it.

Source

I am beyond excited to see the iconography and concepts of my oldest fandom being appropriated into a very real movement in our country’s history.

How has Star Wars, or any other fandom, helped you engage in activism?

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Luminous Beings: The Rogue One Precedent

When I first heard about Rogue One, I was very hesitant to get on board the hype train. My initial reaction was fear. What would happen when we went back to this era that I’ve only ever seen on 70s era filmstock? Would it be jarring? Would it retcon the hell out of our beloved Original Trilogy? But most importantly, what trend would this movie be starting?

A New Hope indeed

Back in 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilms for a whopping $4 billion . Many of us were left questioning how this would affect the Star Wars franchise. At this point, Disney already owned Marvel as well, and the movies Marvel was pumping out were generally regarded as top quality. So we at least knew we wouldn’t be getting some weird Disney Channel spin-off movies. Although, come to think of it, a Disney/Pixar short about Droids would be pretty awesome. But even with Marvel as a living example of how well Disney could handle their properties, fans were still nervous for what was coming next.

*Tears of joy*

What came next was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which holds the highest domestic gross income of all time and is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 92%. So Disney did alright for themselves. The success of this movie meant a lot to the film industry at large. The highest grossing film in America’s leads were a woman, a black man and a hispanic man, absolutely destroying the notion that America won’t watch movies without white, male leads. That’s a giant step forward in diversity in film.

So what’s next? Episode VIII, obviously. But Disney decided that the numbered trilogies, the comic books, the novels, and the animated series weren’t enough. No, we’re going to have spin off movies as well. The first of which being Rogue One. 

The concept of a Star Wars movie that wasn’t really a Star Wars movie was terrifying at first. How can we step outside the established franchise? How blasphemous! But after talking it over with my saner self, I realized that no matter what happens with these spin-off films we’d always have the numbered franchise. If you’d like to read my review on Rogue One, check it out here.

Rogue One had a lot of responsibility on it’s shoulders. It’s obvious that Disney wanted to emulate the Marvel formula of having varying genres of movies all in the same franchise and releasing them annually. For example, Thor is a fantasy film. Captain America is a war hero film. Ant-Man is a comedy. They all fit together under a larger genre of Superhero movies. Rogue One is primarily a war film, differing from the numbered franchise, which focuses on The Force and The Jedi and family and such. If Rogue One failed at the box office and with the critics, we’d probably have a DC film situation on our hands, where they keep making movies but nobody's really sure why. 

Why?

But Rogue One did anything but fail at the box office. As of today, Rogue One sits at number 8 in the highest domestic income of all time list. A precedent has been set. You can rest assured that after Rogue One’s success, we will be seeing a lot more Star Wars spin off stories in the coming years, in addition to the main franchise. They already have a Han Solo movie in the works and fans are begging for an Obi-Wan stand alone movie as well.

It’s such an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. I am nervous about over saturation, though. I don’t want there to be a time in my life where I’m sitting in a theater to see “just another Star Wars movie.” I want to always be filled with that excitement and awe that I’ll be in another, familiar world as soon as the crawl starts. But despite the fear, I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to see quality stories coming out of a galaxy far, far away. 

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Luminous Beings: Why Star Wars Matters Now More Than Ever

In college, one of my film professors shared something with us that I keep thinking about, even years later. He told us that after 9/11/01 all he wanted to do is watch Star Wars and escape. And, buddy, after 11/9/16 all I want to do is watch Star Wars and escape.

I’m disappointed to be starting my Star Wars column off like this, in this context. This column will explore the vast world of Star Wars and how we participate in that world.  So maybe this is the perfect place to start. We are currently living in a world where many women, people of color, people with  disabilities, and people who identify as queer are scared for their lives. In such a serious and grave moment in history, how can anyone concern themselves with something as trivial as pop culture? As ridiculous as space wizards and ray guns?

Before you let anyone get away with criticizing you for your fandom, let’s talk about the role Star Wars is currently playing in the lives of fangirls. There are two facets to this: one being that Star Wars provides an escape for marginalized people, the other being the themes found in Star Wars both reflect and influence our culture at large.

Fandom is a powerful thing, despite being written off by the mainstream majority as something strange. It is a source of community and with any community, values and social norms arise. For example, the BBC Sherlock fandom is made up mostly of queer women, and it has created a safe space for those queer women. That fandom played a major role in my own queer story. But what kind of spaces does the Star Wars fandom create, what kind of communities? The thing is, Star Wars is a massive fandom, with so many subsets. We have two trilogies under our belt and we’re working on a third, we have two animated series, a huge amount of novels and comic books (some canon, some purged from the canon, RIP), and we have video games. Star Wars is huge and it has a place for everybody. Sort of like a certain country we all know…

So when the real world turns its back on you, fandom provides a safe space, even if it’s fictional or virtual. This is a method of self care, it’s a coping mechanism. It’s also important that we eventually leave our escapism to fight the good fight, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with pulling your peace of mind from pop culture and the support systems around it.

Now let’s talk about the themes in Star Wars, like family, resistance, and hope at overcoming the darkness at incredible odds. I think that last bit is what’s connecting so much with me right now. This theme of hope despite has spanned three trilogies now. First with the destruction of the Empire, then the survival of the Jedi way against the Sith and Separatists, and now the resistance against a small group of zealots looking to take back control. All of our heroes stopped at nothing to do what was right, even when it seemed hopeless.

Our most recent addition to the Star Wars Universe has been Episode VII: The Force Awakens. In this movie, our lead is a girl from the middle of nowhere who just wants to be a part of something bigger than herself. And it's also the black man who breaks away from the destructive expectations assigned to him. And the Hispanic pilot who is treated as a competent leader. How many of us are finally having our stories told? That in and of itself is a source for hope. Our media is more diverse than it ever has been, and it keeps growing. This reflects the diversity in our actual lives, and it normalizes that to the mainstream culture.

Star Wars is one of, if not the, most influential franchise in the most influential art form in history. We make a difference when we support this media with our dollar and our hearts. We make a difference when we demand this fandom to be better still, to be open and progressive. And by demanding this, we make a change in our country at large. Pop culture is culture. Representation is important. And we are making a difference.

The real world looks very bleak right now, and it’s okay to be scared. I’m scared. The road ahead looks insurmountable, but we are still going to take it for the people we want to protect. We are, every one of us, Luke Skywalker. We are Leia, Han, Rey, Finn, Poe, Padme, Obi Wan, and some of us are Anakin. We face a giant struggle, and we are probably going to lose some battles along the way. But we have each other, and that means we have hope.

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